In the news this morning – NBC Universal is to cut its budget by $750 million by 2008, cut 700 jobs, and cut back on “scripted” programming.
The future – more reality crap, more shouting heads, more tabloid TV
And I was kind of enjoying the new NBC season – except for Galactica and Anthony Bourdain, all my regular appointments have been with NBC – The Office, Studio 60, Heroes, 30 Rock.
Crap.
IMHO, there is an intrinsic amount of trashiness associated with all reality TV. That doesn’t mean the shows aren’t entertaining, but they are a little bit insulting to viewers’ intelligence…sometimes a LOTTA bit insulting. Reality shows can’t help it; it’s in their nature. The only ones to laud/blame (depending on your tastes) are all of the networks perpetuating the craze. It seems this reality “fad” is here to stay. Much in the same way variety and, to a lesser extent, game shows have disappeared from primetime television, it seems that sitcoms will never be as prevalent as they once were.
Count me in the frowny face camp.
Sorry for the double post, but I just gotta explain that I don’t think sitcoms are the greatest product of television. But I do think that they CAN be tastefully done, and that it’s a shame that Curling With the Stars 5 may someday replace The Office.
I’d watch that.
Can we have a reality show were network executives and politicians are tortured?
Or, you know, the people watching them.
I wonder if this is happening because networks are thinking of no longer doing the bigger-dick my-best-show-versus-yours thing? I mean, if you’re up against a powerhouse on Friday at 7pm, you can either spend a lot of money on a good show and split the market with a competitor, or a little money on a crap show with (relatively speaking) a high profit margin.
Well, actually, this is caused by people not watching the networks. If more people watched the networks, ad revenue would rise and the amount spent on “quality” programming would improve.
The only reason why they are “The Networks” is because they’re still used to thinking of themselves that way, capital letters and all… whereas for most of America, “CBS” is just another slot on the 100+ channel dial, one typically found in the lower numbers.
No, they’d just charge advertisers more money. The networks exist for the sole pupose of generating income for their owners, not educating, informing, or entertaining the public. If they can get alot of viewers by airing cheap crap they’ll air cheap crap.
Of course, Galactica is also produced by NBC Universal.
I
No… they’d put “better”, more expensive product on the air. Historically, the more money that went into the networks because of advertising, the more complicated their productions became. From Texaco Star Theater to Mission Impossible in about a decade… whereas the 2000’s has seen pretty much the reverse: from ER to Wife Swap.
In an interview yesterday in the WSJ, Dick Wolf (Law and Order creator) said that the major networks are so desperate in their business model they’re even reviving the idea of having a single sponsor pay for a half-hour block of time. It’s like the early fifties all over again. 
You may be on to something here, because that seems to be happening some in radio. The “news radio” station that I listen to has started selling 1/2 hour blocks that are billed as call-in help shows, but are really thinly disguished infomercials.
If the infomercials on television now were to add a few song and dance numbers between the sales pitches, you would have the '50s variety show.
Now that I think about it, how often during a given show are all of the commercials for only two or three products anyway? Is the next step the “Law and Order Hour” brought to you by Dewey, Cheatem, and Howe, Attorneys? Or the “CSI: Miami” hour, brought to you by Preparation-H.
More like “The Preperation H CISI: Miami Hour”
Mid way through the actors would turn to the camera:
“Folks I want to tell you about Prepration H. When I’m not solving a crime I’m itching my butt pretty feirce. The Burning the Swelling Lord is it bad!! But thanks to teh good people at Preperation H, My swelling is gone. And Now it comes with a nice lime smell. That’s right Prperation H… It goes on smooth”
NOW BACK TO PREPERATION H’S CSI: Miami Hour"
So we’ve got a choice between crappy, formulaic scripted shows and moronic unscripted shows. No wonder I don’t watch much TV.
At least Caruso would have something to do with his hands beside take his sunglasses on and off. Or, he could develop a new signature move. I can see it now: he turns and looks to the side, firmly forces his sunglass onto his faces, starts to lower his hand, then returns his hand back up, sniffs his fingers, and faintly scowls while muttering under his breath, “Smells like lime ass.”
And it costs NBC Universal money they don’t want to spend, too- I was just reading in Newsweek that there’s a battle between NBC Universal and the Writers’ Guild of America over “webisodes” based on Galactica- NBC Universal refuses to give the writers on-screen credit or compensation. The creator of Galactica filmed ten more, but he refuses to hand them over to NBC Universal until the writers get credit and compensation.